David "Coondog" O'Karma is a

competitive eating Competitive eating, or speed eating, is an activity in which participants compete against each other to eat large quantities of food, usually in a short time period. Contests are typically eight to ten minutes long, although some competitions c ...

champion, entertainer, and writer from

Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio Cuyahoga Falls ( or ) is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 51,114. The second-largest city in Summit County, it is located directly north of Akron and is a suburb of the Akron metropol ...

. He was formerly a member of the

IFOCE Major League Eating (MLE) is an organization that organises professional competitive eating events and television specials. The stated mission of Major League Eating is to maintain a safe environment for all events, to create a dynamic and enjoya ...

, but is now the director of a Competitive Eating organization called the Association of Independent Competitive Eaters (AICE).

Competitive eating

He started competitive eating at age 15 in Cuyahoga Falls, at

Church's Chicken Church's Texas Chicken is an American fast food restaurant chain that specializes in fried chicken and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The chain was founded as Church's Fried Chicken To-Go by George W. Church Sr. on April 17, 1952, in San ...

on Portage Trail. He ate 13

sweet potato The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the Convolvulus, bindweed or morning glory family (biology), family, Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a r ...

pies in one minute to become the

WCUE WCUE (1150 AM) is a non-commercial radio station licensed to serve Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, carrying a Christian format as a repeater for the Family Radio network. Owned by Family Stations, Inc., the station services the Akron metro area. WCUE does ...

Sweet Potato Pie-eating Champion. From there he entered the

Hoolihan and Big Chuck Charles "Big Chuck" Schodowski (born June 28, 1934) and "Lil' John" Rinaldi (born January 19, 1946) – together commonly known as Big Chuck and Lil' John – are a duo of entertainers who served as late-night horror hosts of ''The B ...

Show's

Pizza Pizza (, ) is a dish of Italian origin consisting of a usually round, flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomatoes, cheese, and often various other ingredients (such as various types of sausage, anchovies, mushrooms, onions ...

Fight of the Century and became the only other person (besides Robert "Wild Mouth" Tilk) to defeat champion eater Mariano "Mushmouth" Pacetti. On July 4, 1974, Coondog set his first world record by eating 45 hard-boiled eggs in 8 minutes and 10 seconds, becoming the WCUE Egg-Sucking Champion. Later that summer, at the Cuyahoga Falls Kid's Carnival. In 2001, Coondog O'Karma came out of a self-imposed retirement of 27 years to win the Nathan's Famous Middletown, New York regional

hotdog A hot dog (uncommonly spelled hotdog) is a food consisting of a grilled or steamed sausage served in the slit of a partially sliced bun. The term hot dog can refer to the sausage itself. The sausage used is a wiener (Vienna sausage) or a frank ...

eating contest, qualifying him for the

Nathan's Famous Nathan's Famous, Inc. is an American company that operates a chain of fast food restaurants specializing in hot dogs. The original Nathan's restaurant stands at the corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenues in the Coney Island neighborhood of the Bro ...

Coney Island

4th of July Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music) In music a fourth is an interval spanning four staff po ...

Hotdog Eating Contest in

Coney Island Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, Manhattan Beach to its east, L ...

where he finished in 7th with 17 hotdogs. Over the course of his career, he has held world records in

doughnut A doughnut or donut () is a type of food made from leavened fried dough. It is popular in many countries and is prepared in various forms as a sweet snack that can be homemade or purchased in bakeries, supermarkets, food stalls, and franc ...

hard-boiled egg Boiled eggs are eggs, typically from a chicken, cooked with their shells unbroken, usually by immersion in boiling water. Hard-boiled eggs are cooked so that the egg white and egg yolk both solidify, while soft-boiled eggs may leave the yolk, a ...

and

corn on the cob Corn on the cob is a culinary term for a cooked :wikt:ear#earofcorn, ear of sweet corn (maize) eaten directly off the corncob, cob. The ear is picked while the endosperm is in the "milk stage" so that the caryopsis, kernels are still tender. E ...

consumption. In addition to American events, Coondog has also traveled to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

for a

Sushi is a Japanese cuisine, Japanese dish of prepared , usually with some sugar and salt, accompanied by a variety of , such as seafood, often raw, and vegetables. Styles of sushi and its presentation vary widely, but the one key ingredient is " ...

eating competition and to meet with

Takeru Kobayashi , also known as Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi, is a Japanese competitive eater. Described as "the godfather of competitive eating", Kobayashi is a six-time champion of Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest and is widely credited with popularizing the spor ...

. He has been ranked as high as 14th in the world by the IFOCE. In addition to these successes, however, there have been letdowns in his career. He was disqualified from the 2002

Wing Bowl Wing Bowl was an annual eating contest founded in 1993 by Philadelphia talk-radio hosts Angelo Cataldi and Al Morganti. The contest was first broadcast on WIP. About 150 people attended Wing Bowl I (held in a hotel) in 1993 to see a competit ...

after vomiting. He had eaten over 100 wings by that point. He eventually retired from Competitive Eating due to his family's concerns about its effect on his health. In April 2006

Jason Fagone Jason Fagone is an American journalist and author. His work has appeared in '' GQ'', ''Wired'', ''Esquire'', ''The Atlantic'', ''New York'', ''Grantland'', ''The New York Times'', and the ''Huffington Post Highline'', among other outlets. In 2002, ...

's book on competitive eating, ''

Horsemen of the Esophagus ''Horsemen of the Esophagus'' by Jason Fagone is a nonfiction book about the sport of competitive eating and the outsized American appetite. ''Horsemen'' follows three American "gurgitators" during a year on the pro eating circuit: Ohio housepain ...

'', featured Coondog as one of three competitive eaters profiled in the book.

Writing

In addition to competitive eating, Coondog writes poetry and essays. In April 2004 Coondog published his first volume of poetry under the title "Wit and Whimsy of a White Trash Jesus." Several of his writings have won awards, including the Ohio Excellence in Journalism Awards first place in the Open Essay category.

Event promotion

In August 2006 Coondog co-hosted the National Hamburger Festival in

Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County, Ohio, Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 C ...

. The festival was held to honor local food innovators Frank and Charles Menches, who claimed to have invented the

hamburger A hamburger, or simply burger, is a food consisting of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically Ground beef, beef—placed inside a sliced bun or bread roll. Hamburgers are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles ...

in 1885. The festival included a hamburger eating contest, which O'Karma won. In 2002 he left the IFOCE after conflicts occurred with its owner, George Shea. He disagreed with IFOCE management regarding several issues, including concerns about the health and pay of competitive eaters. He later joined forces with a smaller competitive eating league, the Association of Independent Competitive Eaters (AICE), which was established by his friend eater Arnie "Chowhound" Chapman. He now serves as the Director of Operations for the AICE.

Personal life

Coondog was born in

, and was raised in

. He attended

Cuyahoga Falls High School Cuyahoga Falls High School (CFHS) is a public high school in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, United States. It is the only high school in the Cuyahoga Falls City School District. It has a current enrollment of around 1,663 students in grades 9–12. The sc ...

, where he was a varsity swimmer. Coondog later attended

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in As ...

and has worked as a painter and construction contractor.''Horsemen of the Esophagus'' by Jason Fagone, p.70. () He is married with two children.

References

External links

Association of Independent Competitive Eaters
* ttp://espn.go.com/page2/s/rovell/030704.html ESPN article on International Hot Dog Eating Contest {{DEFAULTSORT:Okarma, David Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American competitive eaters People from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio